This wasn't just a two-point opportunity, first place was on the line Thursday night at Langley Events Centre.
The Prince George Spruce Kings made that long day's drive to the Lower Mainland worthwhile, handing the Langley Rivermen a 4-3 loss that left the Kings (15-8-2-2) three points ahead of the Rivermen (14-9-1-2) in the BCHL Mainland Division standings.
Chad Staley took a spinerama pass from the corner from linemate Jeremiah Luedtke and hammered the puck into the net past goalie Steve Myland for the winning goal, 14:59 into the third period.
Matt Painchaud, a 17-year-old rookie from Delta, picked up his first career BCHL goal to put the Kings ahead 3-2 with five minutes gone in the third period. The Riverman evened it up at the 9:31 mark, cashing in on a turnover in the Kings' end that led to the seventh of the season from Marcus Vela. That set the stage for Staley's late-game heroics.
The Kings scored on their first shot, off the stick of Braiden Epp, 1:54 into the game, his first of the season. James Robinson was the first Riverman shooter to get one past Jesse Jenks, 15:32 into the game.
The teams traded goals one minute apart in the second period. Matt Ustaski gave Langley its only lead of the night at the 3:05 mark and Kings defenceman Christian Weidauer followed that up with a point shot at 4:05.
"I didn't think we were that good tonight, we made a lot of mistakes in the neutral zone and lost a lot of checks in our end, but that goal by Weidauer really slowed their momentum," said Kings assistant coach Colton Buffie. "I felt they were really gaining shift after shift for about four or five [minutes] there and they got that one and we came down and got that goal quick."
Shots were 27-24 in favour of the Kings. They were missing captain C Bryant Christian (broken jaw) and F Mitch Barker (sprained ankle).
The Kings will be on home ice at the Coliseum Saturday to host the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
